31 Things I’ve Learned In 31 Years

Well today is my 31st Birthday and I couldn’t be more excited about where my life is at this very moment. I am months away from marrying the love of my life in Malibu, our software company appraiso had a launch month that far exceeded our expectations, and my business is on track to triple year-over-year, crazy! It is times like these that I get pretty darn reflective, I feel so lucky, but at the same time, it’s taken a lot of hard work and failure to get where I am today.

So I thought for this Birthday, rather than writing one of my usual long reflective posts I’d change it up a bit. One thing that I realize each year is how much I learned that year, and how some of the things I thought I knew, I really didn’t know at all. I guess that’s just part of getting older, and I’m all about learning, taking everything in, and learning from every experience possible.

One thing I learned a long time ago that’s stuck with me is that you learn the most from your failures, not your successes. This couldn’t be more true, and that’s why I am excited to share with you 31 things I’ve learned in 31 years. Oh, and since a majority of my readers are Domainers, there will be a domain-specific tone to this, I’ll save the really mushy stuff for my friends and family!

  1. Content is king, always has been, always will be.
  2. Build for users, not for search engines.
  3. You can do anything you set your mind to, but you might not get it right on the first try.
  4. Never do business with people you don’t like doing business with.
  5. Don’t be the first person to throw out a number in a domain negotiation.
  6. Visit every single city in every single country you possibly can, the world is an amazing place.
  7. We are all more similar than we are different.
  8. The key to running a successful blog is writing at least one post every single day.
  9. The key to running a successful business is staying strategic and hiring people to do the tactical.
  10. Finding good people is hard, very very hard.
  11. Outsourcing can work, but not if you’re managing it yourself.
  12. .COM is king, always has been, always will be.
  13. That being said you can build a great business on any TLD.
  14. If you’re overloaded it probably means you need to hire another person, not get less sleep.
  15. Sleep is important.
  16. Never sign a contract you haven’t read.
  17. Listen to your customers.
  18. Listen to yourself.
  19. Don’t work too hard, life is all about balance.
  20. Running up and down a spiral staircase can hurt your knees.
  21. Once your business really takes off, taxes become less fun.
  22. The DMV is never fun.
  23. Get a sports car and enjoy it, it’s worth it.
  24. Try to get away from it all at least once a week, once a day is even better!
  25. Live by the Ocean.
  26. Jogging is one of the best ways to explore a new city.
  27. Know who your real friends are.
  28. Don’t be afraid to take big risks and make big mistakes.
  29. Spend more time with friend and family than anything else.
  30. There is never a reason to be proud that you’re working late, be proud that you got home early.
  31. Find love, it gives true meaning to life.
Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton